The Truth
by Tharkun 140
Summary: Upon arriving in Atlas, Ruby's curiosity gets the better of her. Using the mystical Relic of Knowledge, she asks for truth about the death of her beloved mother, Summer Rose. The answer she receives is surprising to say the least.


**A one-shot story I wanted to write for a while now. Enjoy.**

* * *

Ruby was nervous.

Which made sense. After all, she was going behind everyone's backs and sort of sabotaging their chances at winning the war against Salem. It didn't feel like a good thing

But Ruby needed to do that. There was a question that she desperately needed the answer to. She had been thinking about it ever since the battle in Argus when she realized that she could ask Jinn that particular question.

The inside of a small ship didn't seem like a good place to activate the Relic, especially if she wanted to keep secrecy. Therefore, Ruby waited for the whole flight to Atlas, waited for Ironwood to allow them in and assign them an apartment and then waited an entire day until she was able to find some peace and quiet. Right now, she was standing on the roof overlooking the twin cities, with the Relic of Knowledge placed on the floor before her.

Ruby took a deep breath. If she invoked Jinn now there would be no turning back - the construct seemed pretty annoyed the last time she was summoned for no reason. After one more minute of mentally arguing whether it was worth it, Ruby got herself together and, as Weiss would put it, got down to business.

"Jinn." She whispered, as to not bring any unwanted attention.

Just like the previous two times, time slowed down around her until it completely stopped. The wind wasn't blowing anymore and snow petals hung in the air. A veil of blue smoke came out of the Relic, forming a familiar silhouette.

"You again?" Jinn asked, eyeing Ruby up curiously. "I hope this time you have an actual question for me."

"Once again, I'm sorry for that." Ruby didn't know whether or not Jinn could refuse answering a question, but she didn't want to take any chances. "And yes, this time I know what I wish to ask about."

Jinn crossed her arms, waiting for Ruby to continue. The girl considered her options for the last time - there were so many things she could ask, including something that would make their fight against the forces of evil easier or even something as fantastical as the ultimate cookie recipe. But no, there was one question that bothered her more than any else, to which she couldn't get an answer from anywhere she had looked. It was selfish, perhaps, to use the final question on something so personal, but she believed her friends would forgive her. And besides, using up all the questions would mean that Salem wouldn't get access to any. In a way, she was doing the strategically correct thing... right?

Regardless, Ruby already made her choice. Once again she spoke to the construct, this time loud and clear.

"Tell me what happened to my mother."

And the answer was revealed to her.

* * *

It was a warm, sunny afternoon. Three people marched throughout the valley, each bearing weapons and looking somewhat bored. Or, in case of two female members of the trio, bored and extremely irritated.

"Why were you insisting on us not using our powers, Qrow?" Raven asked, for what was probably the eight time that day.

"I told you, it's so that we can socialize!" Qrow responded. "We can't really talk when we are birds and Summer wouldn't be able to fly alongside us anyway."

"It would be such a shame." Summer remarked, sarcasm in her voice obvious. "I want nothing but to spend more time with my old bandit friend here."

"And nothing makes me happier than hanging out with you, my dear friend." Raven responded, somehow managing to make 'friend' sound like an insult.

Qrow groaned quietly. It took him quite a bit of effort to convince Raven to participate in the mission. He was hoping that it would be an opportunity for her and Summer to talk their differences through, maybe even put team STRQ back together. But it clearly wasn't working, as the two women were quite antagonistic towards each other, likely because of their past history. Jealousy, insecurity and good old bitterness coming from both sides.

He hated how awkward the situation was. They still had several hours left before they reached their target and spending all that time quipping at each other didn't seem very appealing. He needed something objective to talk about, a distraction of sorts.

Apparently, his prayers have been heard, as just a minute later a black shape appeared on the sky. A Grimm sensed them and was heading their way.

"Nevermore." Raven announced. "At least it seems like it from this distance. It's not the biggest one we ever fought, but I still don't want to face it without some additional advantage."

"Advantage?" Summer asked ironically. "Tough luck then, because we are in a tight spot here. There is no good cover nearby and none of us has a good long-distance weapon."

Damn it, even the promise of a battle didn't stop these two from butting heads. Luckily, Qrow had a solution to that particular problem. The Nevermore, that is. He had no arcane knowledge that would somehow allow him to solve female disputes.

"I have recently upgraded the Harbinger so that it works on longer distances as well." He said proudly. "I didn't want to tell you that, because that would have been spoiling the surprise. But now, I think I should put it to a little test."

"You mean you never tested it" Summer raised her eyebrows. "That seems like a heavy risk, especially with your semblance in play."

"Fret not, I have everything under control." Qrow assured his partner and began transforming his weapon. Within the next second, Harbinger turned from a longsword into a high-caliber sniper rifle with telescopic sight, bullets already loaded and ready to be fired.

"That does look relatively impressive." Raven said. "But can you actually operate it? And do it well?"

"I told you not to worry." Qrow retorted, sat down and aimed the rifle at the Nevermore in the distance. "Just sit back and watch."

Raven probably wasn't convinced by her brother's words, but she didn't protest any further and instead just stood there in silence. That gave Qrow an opportunity to calmly aim his weapon, make some quick calculations to adjust for the wind and then, once he was sure the bullet would hit the Grimm in the head, pulled the trigger.

Even years later, Qrow wouldn't be able to figure out what exactly went wrong at that moment. Yes, he was in no way experienced with long-ranged weapons and yes, some malfunction in the weapon's firing system wasn't all that improbable. But it was physically, logically impossible for the damn bullet to suddenly change its momentum so drastically that it pierced the pipe and shot out in the direction orthogonal to the intended one.

Right into Summer's chest.

Initially, everyone was too shocked to do or say anything. Even Summer, despite now having a gaping hole in her chest, didn't react right away. She stood in place for a while, looked at the blood spilling onto her cloak with surprise, and only then collapsed to the ground.

Surprisingly enough, Raven was the first of the twins to react. Once surprise faded from her face, it was replaced by sheer horror. The woman rushed towards her bleeding teammate and then knelt beside her. She lifted Summer's head up from the sharp rocks and looked into the half-closed silver eyes.

"Summer! Look, you're… you're going to be okay, do you hear me?" Raven said hurriedly. Those words were likely dishonest, as the puddle of blood around Summer was growing bigger at an alarming pace.

Raven turned Anger briefly replaced worry on her face, as she angrily shouted the next sentence. "You just shot Summer, you team-killing fucktard!"

"I'm… I'm sorry." Qrow mumbled. He was too shocked by the whole situation to say anything else. The Nevermore, which he could see with a corner of his eye, turned around and flew away. Either it sensed some more nutritious pray, or it never intended to attack the three huntsmen in the first place.

A pit opened up in Qrow's stomach as he realized just how grave the situation was. Had he… had he just killed his teammate for no reason?

"Raven…" Suddenly, Summer started to quietly speak. "I'm not going to make it. I just… I just want you to…"

"What?" Raven's attention shifted back to Summer. "What is it?"

"I just want you to know…" Summer drew a shallow breath. "I always hated you. I always hated you the most."

"Yeah, I know you did." Raven sighed, suddenly becoming a lot less worried. "Now hurry up and die, you husband-stealing bitch."

With these words, Raven walked away from her dying teammate. As Qrow helplessly watched his friend bleed out to death, one practical, selfish thought arose in his brain.

No one could ever find out how much he had fucked up.

* * *

In a spacious, yet relatively cozy room of an atlesian apartment, nine people sat on couches and ate sandwiches provided to them by the establishment of the hotel they were staying in. Oscar Pines, a soon-to-be fifteen year old with a soul of a far older man inside him, calmly consumed his food. By now he was more or less used to the company of multiple beautiful girls and the danger of being around Qrow and wasn't particularly bothered by either of these things.

"Those are pretty good." Nora, one of the attractive girls Oscar was _almost _not bothered by anymore, commented loudly. "They're not as good as the ones Jaune's sis makes, but still good enough."

"Yes, General Ironwood made sure we would get some nice food in addition to the lodging." Said Blake, who was currently sitting right next to Yang, the two of them practically hugging one another. "Do you think we should wait for Ruby before we eat all of these?"

"I have a better question – where is Ruby exactly?" Weiss asked. "She left an hour ago and didn't even bother to tell us where. Maybe she is doing something stupidly reckless, like hunting Grimm in the middle of tundra?"

"Even if she does, I believe she will be fine." Those words were said by Qrow, the middle-aged huntsman who currently occupied his own armchair. "She is very capable, and not just for her age. She is truly an adult now, just as strong and resourceful as…"

Suddenly, silence overtook the room. It was the uncomfortable kind of silence, one that told everyone that an uncomfortable topic had been breached, even if they didn't know what that topic was.

"Look guys…" Qrow said slowly, the tone of his voice more calm and serious now. "I'm sorry for being useless back then. At the farm, in Argus… I just wasn't coping very well with all of this. I told myself that everything I ever did was pointless and that all the... sacrifices I made where for nothing. I got stuck in my own self-pity."

"Hey, everyone has days like that." Yang said comfortingly. "You shouldn't be ashamed of that."

"No, I really do." Qrow retorted. "We are in a tough spot and everyone needs to do their best. I swear, I will never whine and mope around from now on. I won't get myself drunk when my help is needed." Qrow pressed his hand onto his chest, as though he was making some sort of vow. "This very night, I am turning my life around. I will amend my mistakes and become a stronger, better…"

Suddenly, an extremely loud sound was heard by everyone in the room.

A split second later, blood covered everything and everyone. Except it wasn't just blood – there were also numerous pieces of bone and brain-matter splatted across the room, a room that was now only occupied by eight people and a headless corpse.

Before anyone managed to say anything or even scream in terror – which Oscar was almost about to do – a red shape flew into the room through the window, only to materialize as Ruby Rose a second later. Her weapon, Crescent Rose, was currently in its ranged form.

"Did I make that…" Ruby started, but then she noticed a mutilated corpse right next to her. "Yes! I never miss a mark!"

"Ruby… why…" Jaune was visibly terrified by what had just happened. He had trouble forming a coherent sentence from the looks of it. "Why did you just shoot Blake in the head?"

"One second." Ruby turned away from her teammate's lifeless body and approached her uncle. "Uncle Qrow, I just found from… a certain source what exactly happened to my mother. How she died."

"Oh." Qrow hanged his head. "So you know. Great. I knew I couldn't keep the truth hidden away forever."

"You shouldn't have kept it hidden, no." Ruby agreed. "That's the consequence of lying and manipulating people. Sooner or later, they find out the truth, and then they tend to be somewhat angry."

Something in Oscar's head felt a tinge of guilt all the sudden.

"But I wanted to say…" Ruby continued. "I don't blame you for what happened to my mother. I don't think it was your fault that your weapon broke in an impossible way, not really."

"You… won't blame me for it?" Qrow asked bewildered.

"Nope." Ruby replied. " I mean, I guess I'm a little angry about the whole thing, but I know you probably spent the last ten years beating yourself up for what happened that day. I could try to make you feel even more guilty and depressed and maybe it would make me feel better… but I'd rather just forgive and try to move forward." Ruby smiled weakly.

"That's… I don't know what to say about that." Qrow said slowly. "Other than that I appreciate it. Really. Thanks kid."

"Um, I really hate to interrupt." Weiss interrupted. "But I am curious as well; Why did you decide to kill Blake all the sudden?"

"Oh, that." Ruby looked at Blake's corpse again and then simply shrugged. "I just found her annoying. I've been thinking about killing her for a while now and that seemed like as good of an occasion as any. Besides, hanging around a faunus in Atlas wouldn't be very convenient. Trust me, it's better this way."

"Well, thank you very much." Yang said sarcastically. "Do you have any idea how much effort it took to get into her good graces? I had to stab a guy to death in order to earn a genuine hug. If you waited just a few days longer, maybe I would be able to drag Blake to bed and make it all worth it."

"Don't act like it's such a big deal." Ruby replied dismissively. "Once we save the world, we will have a lot of guys and girls wanting to sleep with us. Just show a little patience."

"Ruby, don't you think killing your teammate like that feels…" Jaune struggled to find a fitting word. "Improper?"

"Nah, not really." Ruby replied. "Come on guys. Has any of you actually liked Blake? For something other than her booty?"

Nobody replied.

"Just as I though. Now, do you have anything to eat? I'm kind of hungry."

"We were eating sandwiches just a moment ago, but they are now covered in brain matter by the looks of it." Ren said, only now joining the conversation. "I think it's best if we all go to sleep now."

"Let me take a shower first." Yang said, standing up from the couch. "I need to wash parts of Blake from my hair."

"I will be glad to catch some sleep." Maria said, seemingly unbothered by the recent events. "Goodnight everybody."

"Wait." Oscar felt a need to contribute to the conversation somehow. "Are we just going to leave Blake here? What if someone walks in and sees her remains scattered around like that?"

"That's a good point." Weiss agreed. "Her head was blown off, so whoever finds the body might not recognize her for a faunus. They might think we killed an actual person."

"Let me take care of it." Qrow offered. "I had to dispose of Summer's body after she died. I know how to handle it."

"Are you going to bury her somewhere?" Oscar asked, more out of curiosity than any actual concern.

"Nah, I'm just going to dump the remains somewhere where Grimm can eat them." Qrow shrugged. "Just like back then. I'm going to fetch a body bag right now."

"Everything's settled, then." Ruby announced. "Well, just one more thing. Yang can you wait a sec?"

"What's the problem?" Yang asked, her hand already on the bathroom's door handle.

"I forgot to ask, how do you feel about our uncle being the one who killed our mother? I forgot to ask you about that?"

"Our mother?" Yang looked genuinely surprised. "My mother is called Raven and I think she's still alive."

"Is that how you see it now?" Ruby also seemed quite surprised.

"Well yeah. How else am I supposed to see it?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure there was a time when you called Summer your mother, even though…" Ruby suddenly shook her head. "You know what, forget about that. It's probably for the best. Goodnight everyone."

As everyone washed and went to sleep, Oscar kept thinking about Ruby. Somehow, she seemed even hotter than usual – it could be that she was currently the only female around who wasn't covered in blood and brain matter, but there was also something… alluring about her willingness to shoot another girl's head clean off. It made her look more wild, more dangerous, and far hotter than ever before.

_You are all insane. _Ozpin said from the depths of Oscar's head. _That's just the truth._


End file.
